


Jingle Bell Thot

by mambo



Series: Jingle Boys [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Holidays, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Tony Stark Tries To Kidnap Santa Claus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 15:00:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17123561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mambo/pseuds/mambo
Summary: “Holy hell,” Steve says.“What?”“Tony’s trying to kidnap Santa Claus.”





	Jingle Bell Thot

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a sequel to Get Jingle With It and it's actually posted at an appropriate time! Hope you enjoy.

Steve didn’t know it then, but Bucky Barnes created a monster.

❄ ❄ ❄

“When was the last time he came out of the lab to eat?” Steve asks Rhodey at the end of the day. It’s the last day at work before the company retreat and the office is already pretty deserted. Steve himself is about to leave; Bucky’s already promised that he’d pick up Thai food from the place they like on his way back from work, and Steve wants to get home before his Tom Yum soup gets cold.

“I think two days ago,” Rhodey says. He’s leaning on Steve’s desk, hands crossed over his chest. “I cannot believe that he thinks he’s going to get that thing ready to go by Christmas Eve.”

“What thing?” Steve asks.

There’s been massive speculation around the office as to what Tony’s secret project actually is. Just about every idea under the sun has been thrown around, from new, more-attractive solar technology to the world’s perfect dildo. Tony’s been so tight-lipped about it that there’s no telling what it could possibly be.

“Think I said too much,” Rhodey says, then chuckles. “You’ll just have to see, if the man can get it done first.”

“You think he will?”

“I want to doubt it, but Tony pulls through. He always does.”

Steve pauses before picking up his briefcase. “Should I be nervous?” he asks, since Rhodey doesn’t seem to want to give up any more details than he already has.

“Probably,” Rhodey says. “But that’s never stopped any of us before,” he adds before walking away.

Steve leaves the office with a creeping sense of trepidation.

❄ ❄ ❄

“Will I need this?” Bucky asks, holding a pair of new long underwear up to Steve for inspection.

“Not unless you think you’re going to be stranded in the wilderness alone.” Bucky looks at the underwear thoughtfully. “You really think you’ll be stranded in the wilderness alone?” Steve asks with alarm.

“No,” Bucky says unconvincingly, throwing the underwear onto his ever-growing packing pile.

“You survived last year’s retreat and under more trying circumstances.”

“And I nearly died in a snowstorm because of it.” Bucky abandons his packing to plop down on the bed next to Steve. Almost instinctively, Steve wraps an arm around Bucky’s shoulders and presses a kiss to his temple. “You’re lucky you’re so cute,” Bucky grumbles, snuggling into Steve’s side.

“I am pretty cute,” Steve says, smiling against Bucky’s temple.

Bucky turns his head to face Steve, and Steve just has to lean in and kiss him. 

It’s been almost a year, but somehow kissing him feels as good as it did the first time. There’s no questions now, no feeling of excited unease in the pit of Steve’s stomach like there was back then, when he still hadn’t allowed himself to admit that he was in love with his best friend and had been for a long time. Now, it’s just the sensation of Bucky’s lips on his and the knowledge that he’s with the person he loves most in the world. Kissing Bucky feels like coming home.

Then Bucky pulls away. “I can’t let this continue. I have to pack.”

“Yeah, you may get distracted and forget a pair of long underwear or something.”

“Ha ha,” Bucky says, standing back up to look at the closet. It’s a bit neater on Steve’s side, a bit messier on Bucky’s, but there’s something that makes Steve smile when he’s getting dressed in the morning and has to find his clothes nestled in amongst Bucky’s. It also makes him kind of annoyed when he’s running late in the morning and trips on the trail of dirty clothes Bucky’s left strewn across the bedroom, but that’s a different story.

Bucky grumbles as he puts together a few more outfits and stuffs them into his duffle bag. Steve half-watches Bucky as he texts Natasha and Sam about post-reunion holiday plans and the party they're throwing on New Year’s Eve. 

Or, well, the party that they’re hoping to throw. The party they’ll throw if things go in the direction Steve’s hoping they’ll go in. He looks up at Bucky as he tries to decide between two sweaters and exhales, hope bubbling in his chest. He looks back down at his phone and responds to Sam’s last text.

“How is it that you’re already packed?” Bucky accuses a few minutes later when he realizes that he’s going to need to bring another bag if he wants to fit everything that he wants to bring to the retreat.

“I did it a few days ago.”

“What kind of sociopath packs for a trip a few days before they leave?”

“The me kind of sociopath,” Steve says with a shrug as he returns to his phone.

The honest reason is a lot more boring than that. The honest reason is that he didn’t want Bucky to watch him pack, didn’t want Bucky to see the little velvet box buried deep at the bottom of his suitcase. He just can’t have Bucky know about it, at least, not yet.

❄ ❄ ❄

“There’s something different about this place,” Bucky says as they pull up to the lodge. “I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something different.” 

His voice is sarcastic enough that Steve looks out of the window to take a look at what he’s talking about. And his eyes go wide.

“What is  _ that _ ?” Steve asks.

“Looks like Tony’s selling secrets to the Russians. If he ends up getting mentioned in the Mueller report, do you think you could write a tell-all book about him? Get us some extra cash? I’d love a vacation home and to get our toilet fixed.”

“I value the work that I do for a living, so I’m going to hope that’s not it.” Still, that’s one helluva satellite on the grounds of the lodge now. Tony had offhandedly told the staff that he purchased the property and would be making some changes, but Steve had thought that he’d add a few solar panels and start composting, not build the world’s biggest satellite dish on the grounds. “What do you think it’s for?” Steve asks.

“You’re the one who works for the madman. He just texts me at three in the morning about what clothes Santa was wearing when I met him.”

Recognition slots into Steve’s brain.

Rhodey said that Tony wanted to finish before Christmas.

The Lodge is where Bucky met Santa.

(Well, technically the bus station.)

It all makes  _ so much sense _ .

“Holy hell,” Steve says.

“What?” 

“Tony’s trying to kidnap Santa Claus.”

❄ ❄ ❄

Once they’re checked in, Steve wastes no time. He leaves his stuff with a protesting Bucky and marches over to Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper’s shared room. It’s Pepper who opens the door with a surprised look on her face. “Steve, it’s nice to see you, but I’m not sure that Tony’s--”

“I need to talk to him,” Steve interrupts, then adds, “Sorry” because his mother taught him to almost always be polite, except in the most dire of circumstances.

“That’s quite alright.” She pauses, then adds, “Do you know?” in a low voice.

“I think I do.”

She nods. “Tony,” she calls into the room. “Steve is here to see you.” She steps aside to let Steve through the door, then shuts it closed behind him.

“Steve!” Tony’s unmistakable voice calls back in a tone that tells Steve that he hasn’t been sleeping much. It’s the same tone he used when he made a breakthrough in his design for a new skyscraper with integrated windmills, but also when he created what he believed to be the world’s best flavor combination for the Pringle New Flavor contest. When he lost, he skulked around the office for a week in misery and had all of the vending machines switched to Ruffles. “I like Steve! Let’s see Steve.”

A moment later, Tony wanders out into the main room of their suite. He looks exhausted, purple bags under his eyes, his tank top a little sweaty. Tony could definitely use a shower. “What’s up?” he asks.

“Bucky tells me you’ve been calling him at three in the morning.” Steve crosses his arms over his chest and straightens up, preparing himself for the argument ahead.

“Oh, so he knows this? Your beloved is aware that I need his attentions? And somehow he never manages to pick up the phone?”

“It’s  _ three in the morning _ , Tony. He is  _ asleep _ .”

“How would you know?” Tony asks, then pauses for just a moment before rolling his eyes. “Okay, he sleeps next to you, that’s how he’d know, you don’t need to tell me I’m wrong there. That doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t return my calls or texts, even when I try to contact him at normal, waking hours, yet I noticed his name next to yours on the guest list this week. He can’t help me with the things that I’m doing to better the world, but he feels more than willing to come drink my free booze. I see how it is.”

Steve raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize that obsessive contact with you was a prerequisite for plus one attendance at this get-together.”

Tony rolls his eyes, then frowns into an exaggerated pout. “I’m just saying that it hurts, Steve. It hurts that your boyfriend -- if he even is your boyfriend, don’t think I’ve forgotten that you tried to pull one over on me last year -- doesn’t even pretend to show even the most common of courtesies to me. I’m wounded, really, by his lack of affection for me.”

“I don’t think Bucky considers answering the phone at three in the morning to be a common courtesy.” Steve pauses; sighs. He needs to get on track. “I’m not here because of this, Tony.”

“Then tell me, why  _ are _ you here?” Tony asks, accusatory. “I’ve told you that Pepper and Rhodey just aren’t interested in bedroom escapades with you, so you can stop begging for it.”

Before Steve can tell Tony just how wrong he is, Rhodey pokes his head out of the bedroom. “Oh, Steve’s here.”

“Yeah, hi Rhodey,” Steve says, still stony-faced.

“Don’t bother trying to talk him out of his bullshit. Believe me, I’ve tried and failed. You’re welcome to our bedroom any time.”

“It’s very big of you to admit your shortcomings,” Tony says to Rhodey, then turns to Steve. “This is a lesson that I think you could learn, Steven.”

“First of all, do not call me Steven,” Steve says through his teeth. “Second, I know that you’re trying to kidnap Santa Claus.”

There’s a long pause, and for a moment, Steve thinks that he’s gotten it wrong, that everyone in the room is about to start laughing at the truly ridiculous words that just came out of his mouth. And outloud, they sound ridiculous even to Steve. He thought he had put the puzzle pieces together, but he could be wrong. It’s happened once or twice before.

But instead of laughter, Tony just rolls his eyes.

“I am not  _ kidnapping _ Santa Claus,” Tony says, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows raised. “The notion of that is just ridiculous. Who would kidnap Santa Claus? Really Steve, who do you think I am?”

Rhodey finally walks into the room, shaking his head. “Sure Tony, but tell Steve what you’re really up to.”

“I’m just trying to have a  _ conversation _ with Santa Claus. Sit him down, talk strategy. The kind of tech the man must have to get across the world like that in one night, to know what every kid wants… Now that’s going to be groundbreaking, worldchanging. The fact that one fat man in a red suit gets to keep all of that to himself is the height of unfairness. Steve, you’re a socialist, you know what I’m talking about.”

“Tony, I don’t think it’s tech,” Pepper corrects in a calm voice from the mirror. She’s putting on a pair of very elegant chandelier earrings that flatter her strawberry blonde hair.  Even if her voice is calm, the warning in it makes it sound like it’s a conversation they’ve had before. 

“Yes, yes, I know you think it’s  _ magic _ , but magic doesn’t exist.” He waves her comment off. “Everything that’s magic is really just technology that we don’t know or understand yet. I will find Santa’s tech and I will use it.”

“Magic exists,” Steve interrupts in a firm voice, thinking of last Christmas. 

It was hard to argue with the look in Bucky’s eye, halfway between fear and wonder, as he talked about his encounter with the man with the bag. Sure, Steve had been pretty sure on Santa actually being his mom a long time ago, but he couldn’t argue with Bucky, not when he seemed so sure, not when Steve could taste the faintest hint of peppermint on his tongue. There had to be a Santa Claus. And Bucky had to have met him.

“Well, if it’s magic, then I’ll quit everything I do here and go join the League of Magicians.”

“Is that a promise?” Steve asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, of course not! I think that you, of all people, would like to keep your high-paying job at one of the most important architectural firms in the world.” Steve rolls his eyes and does not start to argue about the flaws of capitalism and how one person’s decision to join the League of Magicians could put an entire business out of work. “But I will find him. I will sit down with him. I will learn the secrets to his mojo, or whatever it is. And then, I will make the world a better place.”

“And the satellite on the lodge grounds is going to help you do this?” Steve asks.

“Yes,” Tony says, straightening up. “It is one part of the Sandy Claws operation.”

“I tried to talk him out of the title, too,” Rhodey says before moving across the room to help Pepper put on a matching necklace. He pauses as he lifts her hair up to kiss the back of her neck. 

“The title of your plan literally references a song where they want to  _ kidnap Santa Claus _ ,” Steve says.

“What I like most of all about that sentence is that you admit to knowing that movie well enough to know that they don’t actually accomplish the kidnapping during that song.” Tony smiles as if he’s won some kind of argument that they’re not actually having.

“You can’t kidnap Santa Claus,” Steve says, feeling very tired, and wondering if he should start polishing up his resume. “You especially can’t kidnap Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.”

Tony grins.

“Watch me,” he says.

❄ ❄ ❄

“Is this really necessary?” Steve asks as Bucky looks over The List one last time. They’re getting ready for movie night --  _ The Holiday _ , this year -- and Bucky’s dragging his feet, but for a different reason this year.

“I’m just making sure I have every person memorized. Can’t make any mistakes this time.”

“You’re embarrassing me,” Steve whines, trying to pull the list out of Bucky’s hands.

“You can’t take back my Hanukkah present,” Bucky protests, knowing full well that Steve also got him a nice fruit basket and a new game for his Nintendo Switch for Hanukkah, and will also bestow upon him multiple Christmas presents, because Steve is a sucker and so gone on Bucky that he even managed to work up the courage to ask him what he  _ wants _ for the holidays and not just make a bad guess like he usually does.

But The List was probably a bad idea.

The List is half a page long and lists the staff members at Stark Industries with whom Steve has hooked up with at previous holiday retreats, Halloween parties, Friday night drinks, etc. It’s not all that long, especially compared with some of his coworkers’ lists. But at the same time, Bucky is a star employee who hasn’t had even so much as an impure thought about one of his coworkers before, so it’s hard to be compared to that.

But The List itself is pretty embarrassing, especially since everyone one The List besides Brock still works at the company.

“I think at first I was the  _ most _ surprised about Thor, just because you’re such good friends, but you know what? I think my opinion is changing. Carol was the real wildcard here, but it’s good that you let her experiment before she settled on women once and for all.”

“I don’t need the director’s cut,” Steve mutters.

Bucky sighs, finally putting The List down on the hotel dresser. “Oh Steve,” he says.

“I’m…” Steve starts, then doesn’t know how to finish. Of course, they’ve talked about The List before, but there’s something different about talking about it at the scene of their misadventures last year. He’s never been ashamed of his partners (well, with one major exception). He’s not now. But he’s ashamed of how not disclosing them made Bucky feel in the past. That shame floods him now, making him look down at his feet in frustration.

Bucky can sense it; he can tell.

“C’mere,” Bucky says, opening his arms and crossing the room.

Steve doesn’t move, knowing his face is red. He doesn’t know what to say.

“You know I don’t mind, right?” Bucky says in a quiet voice as he slings an arm around Steve’s shoulders and pulls him in close. “I’m just giving you some crap, but I don’t care.”

“I know.”

“You want me to never mention it again?”

“I don’t care.”

“Yeah, you do.” He gives Steve’s side a gentle poke. “Words,” he says. “We gotta use our words.” 

It’s a common phrase between the two of them now, something they bring out when they don’t communicate as well as they should. They have to be careful to speak to one another, not to leave things out because they’re embarrassed or uncomfortable. Steve needs to make sure that Bucky knows how he’s feeling, because he assumes that Bucky already knows. Bucky needs to let Steve know what his boundaries are and when Steve crosses them.

The past year has been a learning experience for the both of them, but it’s worth it to let himself go soft against Bucky’s side and let Bucky carry a little bit of his weight.

“I’m remembering last year,” Steve forces out, even though every part of him screams not to tell Bucky about how he’s feeling. “How I didn’t tell you who was on The List and what that led to. I feel awful about it.”

“It’s water under the bridge,” Bucky says.

“Still, I want to make sure that you’re okay. You’ll be facing those people tonight, and for the rest of the week.”

“We literally had drinks with Thor last night. Do you remember?” Steve nods into the crook of Bucky’s neck. “Good, don’t think I didn’t notice you and Bruce throwing back shots at the bar while we talked about how good you are in bed.”

“Buck,” Steve says with a warning glance. “You know Bruce is a little sensitive.”

“I mean, he shouldn’t be. Thor could’ve had you but he chose Bruce.”

“I wouldn’t have Thor,” Steve says, starting to feel better as he turns around. He moves his hands to Bucky’s hips, gives them a squeeze.

“To be fair, Thor never asked you. It was just uh…” He pretends to look over to the side of the room where The List is, even though both of them know that he can’t read it from this far away. “Just a hand job?” 

“I did  _ not _ write what I did with everyone on The List!” Steve says, head popping up.

“Maybe Thor told me,” Bucky says with a toothy grin.

Steve has to kiss it off of them.

They pull apart when the hotel phone starts ringing.

“Wanna ignore it?” Steve whispers into Bucky’s ear before gently biting his earlobe.

“We both know it’s Stark,” Bucky says and somehow Steve immediately feels limp in the nether regions. He wills himself to stop thinking of goatees and hubris.

“Ugh.”

The phone rings again.

Steve walks across the room to pick it up, answering it with a terse hello.

“Skip the movie,” Stark commands in lieu of a greeting. “I need you and lover boy to help me with something.”

Before Steve can tell him no, Stark hangs up.

“Was I right?” Bucky asks.

“I’m quitting this job on New Year’s Day,” Steve says.

“Sure you are.”

“We have to meet Tony.”

“Sure we do,” Bucky says, moving back to Steve and pushing him up against the bed.

“We have to…” He trails off, moving in to kiss Bucky again.

❄ ❄ ❄

They get to their meeting with Stark a bit late and a bit rumpled.

❄ ❄ ❄

“I’m not sure that this is the way to do this,” Bucky says, eyeing the sleek red and yellow sleigh in front of him.

“It’s state-of-the-art,” Tony explains, trailing a hand along the side of his abomination.

“Can there be a state-of-the-art sleigh when there’s not really a modern market for them?” Steve asks.

“I guess it’s up against snowmobiles,” Bucky says.

“Snowmobiles don’t fly,” Steve retorts. Bucky shrugs. Steve pokes his side. Bucky pokes him back.

“If you two are done flirting like school children, I would like to get back to the matter at hand.”

Bucky rolls his eyes. “I really don’t think this is the way,” he says.

“You’ve given me no indication that you actually know the way to do this, let alone  _ any _ way to do this, so until you have a solution that doesn’t involve my trailing Santa across the sky and boarding his sleigh using this state-of-the-art sleigh, I’m going to need you to be in support of this plan,” Tony says, getting a little worked up.

“I get the feeling he doesn’t actually have a sleigh,” Bucky says, thoughtfully. “I mean, I feel like the people at the bus station would’ve noticed if there was a sleigh on the roof.”

“Maybe it’s invisible,” Steve offers.

“Oh, that’d be sick. And it would explain a lot about how the whole Christmas thing functions.”

“I just need you to tell me how long he was in the bus station for,” Tony says. “If I can pinpoint the amount of time he spends at each location, I’ll have a better chance of tracking him throughout the night.”

“We chatted for like, ten minutes. Maybe fifteen,” Bucky says.

“Can’t be more specific than that?” Tony asks. Bucky shakes his head. “You’re useless.”

“I was  _ distracted _ ,” Bucky counters.

Tony frowns. “We can still work with that,” he mutters, then turns to the elaborate computer system he’s installed in what used to be the resort’s horse barn, but is now his own fucked-up Santa’s workshop. 

It seems like the man’s gone mad.

Steve says as much.

“Don’t you have planning to do of your own?” Tony asks, eyebrows raised. Steve tenses up, ignoring the way Bucky looks at him. He knows he shouldn’t have invited Tony to the potential engagement party, but it felt rude to invite Pepper and Rhodey but ignore him. “Or am I--”

“Just stop,” Steve interrupts. He takes Bucky’s hand. “Let’s go,” he says in a low voice.

“Aye aye, captain,” Bucky says, trying to keep his voice light, but obviously noticing that something weird’s up.

❄ ❄ ❄

“So, you were right,” Bucky says that evening in their hotel room, wearing nothing but the resort’s official bathrobe. It’s a new addition for this year, probably something Stark made them add, but Bucky imprinted on it and hasn’t worn anything else to bed since they’ve gotten here. That is, when he’s worn something to bed. “Isn’t that enough satisfaction for you?”

“He’s planning something that’s going to ruin Christmas,” Steve mutters, pacing the room. He doesn’t add that Stark’s planning something that has the potential to ruin his proposal, but that’s not something he can even say. He’ll be happy when it’s over, regardless of whether or not Bucky says yes, just so that he’ll be able to stop living with this big secret hanging over his head. He’s never been a good liar and he hates keeping secrets from Bucy -- it’s the one thing he promised he wouldn’t do.

Not that they haven’t discussed marriage before; they have. They’re each other’s forever person, regardless of who proposes and when. But Steve wants to make the proposal something special, something that speaks to their shared history and the future that they want to have together. The Christmas proposal is supposed to be that. It’s supposed to be romantic, sweet, and real.

He can’t have Stark ruin it by trying to capture Santa Claus.

“Then we’ll leave,” Bucky says with a shrug. “Not that I really think that Tony’s all that capable of actually getting to Santa because the dude’s magic and has some kind of network that allows him to know the behavioral patterns of every child on earth, but we can always just go back to New York for the holiday itself. It was your idea to stay on Christmas, anyway.”

“I wanted to do something romantic,” Steve admits, thinking of the proposal scene that he wants. He and Bucky surrounded by a blanket of snow on the lawn of the lodge. Now there will be a satellite, too, but he didn’t think of that as a total mood ruiner.

“It’s very romantic,” Bucky says. “So is eating hot pockets in our apartment.” He shrugs. “Anything is romantic when I’m around.”

“Buck,” Steve admonishes. 

“You know what else is romantic?” Bucky leans back in the bed, holds his leg up through the gap in the robe.

“Sucking your toes?” Steve asks, unable to keep the smile from spreading on his face.

“I asked you to do that  _ once _ ,” Bucky says, dropping his leg and sitting up again.

“And I’ll never let you live it down.”

“The least you could do is try it.” Bucky crosses his arms, like he’s pouting. Laughing, Steve jumps into bed next to him, crowding Bucky and giving him a lingering kiss.

“You really want me to lick your toes?” he asks.

“Not if you don’t want to.”

Steve pauses, laughs. “Merry Christmas, Buck,” he says as he slides down the bed towards Bucky’s feet.

❄ ❄ ❄

The week goes along but Tony’s absence at most of the company events is noticeable. Steve hears his coworkers’ murmurs throughout the week, people wondering if Tony’s sick or finally so checked out from his own business that he’s going to sell the company and retire to Miami Beach like he threatened once at a shareholders meeting six years ago. Steve contemplates, for just a moment, telling his coworkers that Tony is quitting to join the Magician’s Alliance but doesn’t. His mother taught him better than that.

Still, it doesn’t seem like anyone but Steve, Bucky, Pepper, and Rhodey know the truth, and Steve is not going to be the one to tell his coworkers, who rely on Stark for their livelihood, that he’s spending his time making a trap for Santa Claus.

“I’m just saying it’s weird,” Valkyrie says late on the night of December 23rd. She’s another one of the people who opted into Stark’s optional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day stay. Since the year before was a success (for most everyone but Brock Rumlow), he decided to open it up so that those people who didn’t have families and friends to go to (or for those who who wanted to avoid their families and friends) could stay and celebrate the holiday with their “work family”. While Bucky hates the phrase “work family” and all of the baggage that’s carried along with it, Steve can’t say he minds Stark giving everyone a place to be. He knows how awkward it feels to try to tag along with other peoples’ traditions when you don’t have any, or when your traditions are taken from you.

Thinking of his family traditions, thinking of his  _ mother _ , still gives him a pang in the chest. He reaches over for Bucky’s hand, who interlaces his fingers with Steve’s without a word, just continuing on with his conversation with Bruce. Steve appreciates him for that, among so many other things.

“He probably has a reason,” Steve says, playing with the straw in his drink with his free hand and not making eye contact.

Valkyrie narrows her eyes at him. “You know something, don’t you?” she asks.

“No,” Steve lies.

“Hey,” Valkyrie calls out to Thor. “Steve knows something about what Stark’s up to.”

Thor, sitting at a table with Loki and their long-lost sister, Hela, who apparently showed up at Thor’s place last week unannounced for some Odinson family drama but still wanted to tag along for the free vacation, sits up. “Do you?” he asks. “Well, let everyone know!” A few other faces from around the bar nod and smile, encouraging Steve to share.

Steve, not interested in hogging the spotlight or divulging Stark’s weird secret, goes red.

“Steve doesn’t know anything,” Bucky says, rolling his eyes. “He just wanted to make a joke about a kinky sex ring and it fell flat because he’s not funny.”

“I’m plenty funny,” Steve says, straightening up. When Bucky lifts an eyebrow at him and Steve remembers that Bucky’s just defending him, he deflates a little. “Oh yeah,” he says. “Fine.”

“Plus, we all know that Stark’s into all sorts of stuff.” He shrugs. “No kinkshaming here, Steve,” he adds, nudging into Steve, who manages to go even redder.

“I’m watching you,” Valkyrie says before flagging the bartender down for another round.

“I’m excited about New Years,” Bruce says to the two of them while Valkyrie’s distracted. “It’s going to be pretty fun.”

Steve’s eyes go wide with horror; he’s talking about the engagement party, the one Steve hasn’t told Bucky about because he hasn’t proposed to Bucky yet.

“Oh, yeah?” Bucky asks, stifling a yawn. He’s had a long day.

“Yeah, I really liked the invit--” He’s interrupted by Tony, who, for once in his life, came in at the right time. “Oh Tony!” Bruce says, brightening up. “You’re alive!”

“That I am,” Tony says. “Was there speculation otherwise?” He’s looking at Steve, which Steve doesn’t quite think is fair. He’s been the one who has kept Stark’s secret this whole time.

“Not really. Come to hang out?”

“No, actually. I came to grab this one,” he says, putting a hand on Bucky’s shoulder.

“Don’t touch me,” Bucky says. Tony removes his hand from Bucky’s shoulder.

“Come on,” Tony says, undisturbed by Bucky’s rebuff. “We have some work to do.”

For a moment, Steve thinks that Bucky will decline. But Bucky is tired enough that he wants an excuse to get out of the bar, so he shrugs. “You’ll be okay?” he asks Steve as he stands up.

“I’ll manage.”

“He’ll be back late,” Tony says. “I promise we’ll use protection.”

“If I’m not back in two hours, call the police,” Bucky tells Steve as they walk away.

❄ ❄ ❄

He’s gone for more than two hours, but Steve facetimes him at the two hour mark, just to make sure everything’s safe. 

“It’ll only be another hour and a half,” Stark promises. 

“Worst playdate ever,” Bucky mutters as he hangs up the phone.

Steve smiles as he puts his phone away.

He’s in the hotel room alone now, which probably isn’t the best thing. It’s past two am on December 24th, the day he’s planned to propose to Bucky on practically since they got together last year. There’s no doubt in his mind that Bucky’s it for him, that he wants to spend the rest of his life with him. And he doesn’t doubt that Bucky wants the same thing; in fact, he’s much clearer about that than Steve is, because Bucky knows how to express his feelings in a healthy way.

But he’s still so nervous.

With Bucky’s calming presence in the room next to him, Steve finds himself unable to sleep, thinking about how he’ll be feeling at this time tomorrow if Bucky doesn’t say yes, if he thinks it’s too early, or if he doesn’t want it at all.

He doesn’t know why he goes to his suitcase to look at the ring. He’s hoping it’s a grounding presence, something that will remind him of all of the good things that are in store once he and Bucky promise themselves to each other for life.

But the ring’s not there.

Before he starts hyperventilating, he goes to the hotelroom’s safe, thinking that he may have put it in there, but just forgot about it. But the small safe is nearly empty except for Steve’s laptop and Bucky’s passport, something he refuses to travel with, just in case they need to spontaneously leave the country. He tells himself that he must have just forgotten to put the ring in the safe, so he moves to the closet.

It’s not there, either. It’s also not in the bureau or the bedside table drawers. It’s not shoved into his pants pockets or in his jacket. It’s not in any of their shoes, it’s not in the bathroom, it’s not under the bed, it’s not wrapped up in Bucky’s bathrobe.

The ring is nowhere to be found.

Steve starts hyperventilating.

It’s not that the ring was the most expensive ring in the world (or even in the store). It’s honestly not like he couldn’t afford another one; it’s just a plain wedding band and he makes enough that another purchase wouldn’t make a dent in his account (thanks to Tony Stark).

It’s just that it seems like a really bad omen to have your ring disappear the night you’re supposed to propose to your boyfriend.

Steve doesn’t want his proposal to be doomed before it starts.

He’s going through the bedding for an eighth time when the door opens. He straightens up, as if he’s being caught red-handed, which just makes him look guilty and weird.

Bucky frowns. “I thought you’d be asleep,” he says.

“I’m not.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Bucky says with a grin as he hangs up his coat in the closet. He pauses, looks inside, sees that everything’s been shuffled around and rearranged. “Something happen?” he asks. “Everything’s weird.” He looks around the room. “Yeah, weird.”

“Just couldn’t find my wallet.”

Bucky steps into Steve’s space and reaches for his back pocket. “I feel a bulge,” he says. “And I don’t think it’s the Christmas cookies you’ve been sneaking for a week now.”

“Oh,” Steve says with a tepid chuckle. “There it is.”

Bucky exhales, blinks. He leans into Steve’s space a little. “You okay?” he asks. 

“Yeah. Why?”

“I…” He trails off, frowns. “You’ve just been weird since we got here. I don’t… I can’t help but feel like maybe being back here, it’s giving you some buyer’s remorse.”

“Buyer’s remorse?” 

“About me, about--”

“Bucky,  _ no _ ,” Steve says adamant, straightening up. “Bucky, that’s not it at all. I  _ love _ you, Buck.”

“Then why are you acting weird?” Bucky says, still frowning.

“I…” He pauses, sighs. “It’s Stark,” he lies. “I’m worried that he’s going to do something stupid and get us all into trouble.”

“Even if he were successful in capturing Santa Claus -- which I don’t think he will be, by the way -- it’s not like Santa has some sort of international police force that could somehow implicate us all in kidnapping the man.” He pauses. “Also, I think that Santa would understand. He seemed pretty chill. We should just have some eggnog ready for him when he gets here.”

“God, I…” Steve wraps his arms around Bucky, buries his head in the crook of Bucky’s neck. He smells the scent of Bucky’s laundry detergent, mixed with sweat. It smells like home, like good, like warmth, like Bucky,  _ his _ Bucky, who he loves so much.

God, he wishes he knew where that ring is hiding.

“Hey, hey,” Bucky says, wrapping his arms around Steve and rubbing his back. “What is it?”

He almost tells Bucky right then and there, that he’s planning to propose, that he can’t find the ring, that he wants to be good enough for Bucky. But maybe there’s something to being back at the lodge that’s keeping him back. Wasn’t this the place where his confusion hurt Bucky? Wasn’t this the place that Steve lied to Bucky about his relationship with Brock? If anyone should be having second thoughts about their relationship, shouldn’t it be Bucky, who could do so much better than a guy who can’t even keep track of a wedding band?

“I just feel weird tonight,” Steve says instead. It’s not a lie.

“I can tell,” Bucky says. “You probably had a little too much to drink, too.” Steve nods into Bucky’s neck. “Wanna get to bed? I’ll let you be the little spoon,” he jokes, voice light.

“Yeah.”

He tells himself that he’ll have time to look tomorrow, that he’ll go through the entire grounds of the lodge if he has to. He’ll find the ring. He’ll propose to Bucky. It will all work out.

❄ ❄ ❄

Steve’s the big spoon; he’s always the big spoon. He wouldn’t really want it another way.

❄ ❄ ❄

Steve wakes up feeling much better than the night before. They sleep in until 8:30, very late for Steve, who usually gets up before work to exercise. “Morning,” he mumbles into Bucky’s neck. 

“Morning stinky,” Bucky says. He’s already awake, surfing his phone. 

“‘M not stinky.” Steve presses a kiss to the back of Bucky’s neck. There’s something so sexy about Bucky in the mornings, all soft and warm. He trails a hand down Bucky’s side.

“I see what you’re doing and while I appreciate it, I’m putting the kibosh on it here and now.” Steve pauses his hand at Bucky’s hip. “Stark told me I smelled like sex yesterday and while I normally wouldn’t give a shit, the man wanted details that I was not prepared to give out. I’m celibate while in his presence now.”

Steve laughs, removing himself from Bucky. “Okay, fine,” he says as he sits up and stretches. He doesn’t pretend he doesn’t notice Bucky looking. He raises an eyebrow.

“Just because I’m on a diet doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu,” he says with a grin. It was a line Bucky’s ma would say every so often, just to make Sarah Rogers laugh and the two of them to gag with disgust.

“Look your fill,” Steve says, slowly getting out of bed, then stripping down, making a little show of it.

“Are you trying to seduce me?” Bucky says, rolling onto his back so he can watch Steve.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just headed to the shower,” he says with an impish grin.

“Naughty.”

“Someone told me I’m stinky,” Steve calls over his shoulder as he heads into the bathroom. He leaves the door open.

It doesn’t surprise him when, a minute after he steps inside, the shower door rolls open and Bucky follows him in. Bucky pins him to the cool tile of the shower wall and kisses him, water streaking down his face, rolling down his naked body. “What happened to your oath of celibacy?” Steve asks cheekily as he feels Bucky’s boner nudge up against his thigh. 

“You’ll just have to wash me down after so no one knows what we were up to.” Bucky grins against Steve’s mouth as Steve grabs Bucky’s ass, dragging him in closer. They kiss, hair dripping, cocks leaking. When Steve takes ahold of Bucky’s length, Bucky’s breath hitches. It’s easy enough to steer Bucky so their positions are switched, to let Bucky lean against the wall as he falls apart in Steve’s hand. 

It doesn’t get old, seeing Bucky in that vulnerable moment where he comes. His eyes go wide, then squeeze shut as his breath hitches. Steve pushes in close, burying his face in Bucky’s neck as he comes, too, with a grunt. 

Of course, that’s when Bucky starts giggling.

“What?” Steve asks, still trying to catch his breath.

“Remember last year? When you asked me to join you in the shower?” He pauses. “Well, you stuttered something out along those lines,” he amends.

Steve feels his smile grow at the memory, as awkward as it had been at the time. “Yeah.”

“Here we are,” Bucky says, pulling Steve back in for another kiss, one that Steve gratefully accepts.

❄ ❄ ❄

Steve’s good mood lasts until they sit down for breakfast and he gets a chance to look out of the window.

“What a mess,” Valkyrie says, slipping into the seat next to Steve. 

“The snow?” Steve asks, feeling his own heart sink as he looks at the blanket of snow across the lodge’s lawn and dusting the trees.

“No, that,” she says, nudging Steve’s side and nodding over to where Thor balances several plates on each arm, heading towards their table. “Well, it’s a mess waiting to happen,” she amends.

“It’s sweet how he dotes on Bruce,” Steve says, watching Bruce shake his head as Thor slowly makes his way to their table and sets the plates down. A bit of hash brown falls off of one of the plates, but Steve picks it up with a napkin, easy as pie.

“Good morning,” Thor says with a bright smile before pulling out a chair for Bruce to sit down in.

“Thor, we talked about this,” Bruce complains as he sits.

Ignoring Bruce’s protestations, Thor sits down and swipes a piece of bacon from Bruce’s plate. Bruce just rolls his eyes, then puts a hand down on Thor’s thigh as he takes a sip of coffee, then looks to Steve. “Morning Steve. Where’s Bucky?”

“Tony stole him again.” He pauses. “But he promised Buck a good cappuccino, so Buck went willingly this time.” He pauses, then exhales. “This is awkward, but can I ask you all to keep an eye out for something?”

“For what?” Thor asks.

“It’s a little velvet box with a ring inside.”

Bruce’s eyes go wide. “The engagement ring?” he asks, a little too loudly. A few people look their way and Steve shrinks in on himself. “Sorry, sorry,” Bruce says with a wince. “I thought you’d already proposed.”

“Not yet, I was planning on doing it tonight. I thought I had it in the room’s safe, but I can’t find it. I’d been hoping to look outside, but…” He looks out at the snow and feels a wave of nausea, thinking about trying to find the ring.

“That’s inconvenient,” Valkyrie says.

“No need for anyone to go out of your way, but if you could just keep your eyes out, I’d appreciate it.”

Everyone nods, then goes to their breakfasts.

❄ ❄ ❄

Thor, of course, organizes a search party.

❄ ❄ ❄

As the sky gets darker, Steve grows more apprehensive. He’d had it all planned, the day spent drinking hot chocolate and hanging out with their friends, the sunset they’d watch together over the snowy landscape underneath comfortable blankets, the proposal…

Oh God, the proposal.

Even if Tony sucked up most of Bucky’s day, Steve could still propose, if he could just find the damn ring.

But he can’t find the damn ring. No one can.

Thor puts an arm on Steve’s shoulder. “We’re all settling in for dinner,” Thor says, letting Steve down easy. They’re giving up on the ring. Not that Steve can blame them; they’ve all been so kind to help him in the first place, but he can’t help but feel frustrated by their inability to find it.

“Head over without me. I’m going to search outside for a little bit longer.”

“It’s cold,” Thor says with a frown. “You’ve spent most of the day outside.”

Steve shrugs. “I can handle it.”

“I’ll make sure to save you a plate.”

“Thanks.”

“And if Bucky asks?”

“Tell him I’ll be there soon,” he says, wishing he could’ve spent the whole day with Bucky, but wanting to at least try to make a memorable night.

Thor nods and Steve turns around, ready to clear off more snow and try to find the damn ring.

❄ ❄ ❄

He retraces his steps for the nine hundredth time, going from his car to the front entrance of the lodge, then around to every area he’s been in since he arrived. Nearly an hour and a half passes and he starts using his iPhone’s flashlight to help him see in the dark night.

“Come on,” he says, looking at a lump underneath the snow. He bends down, using his freezing hands to unearth yet another rock.

He plops down onto the snow, feeling utterly defeated. A tear rolls down his cheek. “There’s next year,” he mutters himself. “There’s always next year.”

“Next year seems a long time to wait for true love,” says a deep voice surprisingly nearby. He hadn’t noticed anyone around.

Steve looks up and sees Santa Claus standing in front of him, clothed in red with a jolly smile on his wide face. He holds out a black-gloved hand; resting on it is the familiar velvet box.

“Where’d you find it?” Steve asks, reaching out for the box with shaking hands. It looks dry and perfect, without a scratch despite having been lost.

“It fell out of your luggage when you first got here. A squirrel grabbed it and put it in its nest.” He smiles and Steve notices that he’s kind of glowing, even in the darkness. “I thought you could use a hand finding it.”

Steve opens up the box. The ring is still there. It’s as perfect as he remembered it. He looks up at Santa. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, Steve. Thanks for being so good for so long.”

“I’ve made mistakes,” Steve says, somewhat sadly, finding it surprisingly easy to talk to Santa. Maybe all of those trips to the mall and photo sessions with fake Santas were merely preparing him for his encounter with the real one. “You know what happened last year.”

“Of course I do. You hurt someone important to you.” Steve looks down at the ring. “But you also made it up to him. You’ve kept your end of the promise; though, I think Bucky’s been a bit worried about you this past week, truth be told.” Steve’s head pops up again. “I think you ought to let him in on this secret,” Santa says, gesturing to the ring. “Let him know why you’ve been so worried, so distant. Let him know that it’s been worth the trouble.”

“I will,” Steve promises.

“And Steve?”

“Please tell dear Tony that he can’t build sleighs and satellites and expect to capture me. It’s nice that he has such an interest, but I have a job to do and, well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make sure that the work gets done.” He grins and then, in a shower of glitter, he disappears. A moment later, he hears a voice call, “On Rudolph!” and a great sleigh pulled by reindeer emerges from the snow, just a little away from Steve. He hadn’t seen it; the sleigh had been invisible. It moves so fast that it creates a gust, which sends Steve stumbling back, the trees around him shaking. 

And then Santa disappears into the night sky and twinkling stars.

“Wow,” Steve whispers, still watching the space the sleigh disappeared into.

A moment later, he hears someone calling his name from behind him. He turns around and there’s Bucky, frowning, as he walks in his weather-inappropriate boots towards Steve. All that packing and he didn’t think to bring snow boots.

“Hey Buck,” Steve says with a smile, grip on the box tight.

“You okay?” Bucky asks, frowning. He’s not even wearing a jacket, Steve notices. Bucky must have run outside to find him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why are you out here?”

“I got this cryptic text from a private number saying that I should get out here to see you. I knew it was probably a murderer, but…” He shrugs. “I love you,” he adds by way of explanation. Steve understands what he means.

“I love you, too.” He pauses, takes a breath. “Hey Buck?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna marry me?” Steve asks, heart beating fast, bending down on one knee as he opens the little velvet box up and presents it to Bucky. He feels the cold snow wet his pants, sees white puffs of air as he breathes.

Bucky blinks. “What?” he asks, voice hoarse.

“Do you want to marry me?” Steve asks again, a hopeful smile glued to his face.

Bucky comes barrelling down. With an umph, Steve falls into the snow, Bucky’s arms around him, his face grinning above him.

“Yes,” Bucky says, short and emphatic. He presses his forehead to Steve’s. “Yeah, sure, I think I’ll do it, yeah.”

“Good,” Steve says, kissing Bucky’s cheek, his chin, wherever he can reach. 

When they finally get off of each other and straighten up, Steve looks down to the box and his eyes go wide. “The ring fell out,” he says, the pit of his stomach bottoming out.

“Oh shit,” Bucky says.

“Santa’s gonna be so pissed,” Steve says, looking around in the divot of snow that they just got out of but not seeing the ring.

“Wait, what?” Bucky asks, eyebrow raised in question, just as a warm breeze and sparkle passes by them. A moment later, the ring is back in the box, a short note attached to it with a tan string. Bucky picks up the note and ring and reads aloud, “Dear Steve, Sorry I couldn’t join you again, but it’s a busy night. I know you’ll understand. Maybe it’s time to give Bucky his gift. I know he’ll keep it safe. Yours fondly, St. Nicholas.” Bucky blinks a few times, then unties the string and puts the ring on his finger. He looks at it for a moment, then smiles. “Tony’s gonna be  _ so pissed _ .”

Steve grins. “Oh yeah, he will.”

They laugh, together in the snow, until it gets just a little too cold, and they head back inside.

❄ ❄ ❄

_ Coda _

❄ ❄ ❄

They walk into the lodge, Bucky’s hand in Steve’s back pocket despite how wet his pants are, and arrive to total chaos.

“It’s all gone haywire,” Bruce says by way of explanation from his place on the side of the lobby, watching the action.

“What the  _ hell _ ,” he hears Tony yell from inside the sleigh, placed in the center of the lobby for everyone to see and admire. Company employees either try to help or are laughing quietly at him from the sidelines. Tony can’t tear his eyes away from the malfunctioning tech, even as Rhodey and Pepper try to convince him to step aside and take a breath.

“What happened?” Bucky asks.

“It was weird. Some kind of gold wind came in through an open window and circled around Tony and the sleigh as he was showing it to everyone. It hung around for a few seconds, then disappeared. Then the whole thing stopped working.” He pauses. “I took a look, but it seems like everything’s completely fried, irreparable. And there was a note, too.”

“A note?” Steve prompts.

“Yeah, it was tied to the steering wheel with a piece of string. It just said, ‘You have to believe; in this wild nineteenth-century script. It looked like something out of  _ Miracle on 34th Street _ .”

Steve looks at Bucky. Bucky looks at Steve. They chuckle.

“Should we tell Tony?” Bucky asks in a quiet voice, low enough that Bruce can’t hear.

Steve shakes his head. “Let’s just keep this between the two of us, just for a little bit.”

Bucky smiles, leans in towards Steve. Steve takes his left hand in his, feeling the cool wedding band against his hand. They kiss.

Tony Stark curses. The crowd laughs. Bruce shakes his head.

And Steve and Bucky are engaged.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays to those who celebrate them! If you want to keep up with my writing, you can follow me on Twitter at [mamboao3](https://twitter.com/mamboao3) and Tumblr at [whtaft](whtaft.tumblr.com).
> 
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